The Spokesperson for former President, John Mahama, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, has expressed disappointment about the number of women nominated to serve as Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives by the President.
In a statement, she described the list, which featured 38 women, as a “mockery from our ‘Gender Champion’.”
In a statement, Joyce Bawah Mogtari says the latest statistics on the country’s population indicating that over 50 percent of Ghanaians are female should be enough reason for the de-marginalization of women in governance.
“How can women who form the majority of our nation’s population be so marginalized,” she asked.
The Western North and Ahafo regions did not feature any women nominees.
The regions with the largest districts, Ashanti and Eastern, had four out of 43 and five out of 33 women nominated, respectively.
“There must always be conscious efforts at introducing women into key decision-making, and that is the reason why President John Dramani Mahama got a lot of applause for his ceiling-breaking move in 2020, nominating Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang as his Running Mate.”
Find below the full statement
It is a sad time for gender activism in our beloved country, following the announcement of the President’s nominees for MMDCE positions.
Not surprisingly, it is the President’s claim that Ghanaian women have not exhibited enough dynamism — whatever that means.
Now, we are told by the Minister for Local Government Dan Botwe that Ghanaian women have not shown enough interest in the MMDCE positions, seeking to defend the 38 female nominations out of a total of 260.
Whatever both gentlemen sought to achieve by those statements, the facts do not support these unfortunate conclusions. It is shameful that at this time in our democratic experiment, we will have only 38 female nominations and seek to justify it.
There must always be conscious efforts at introducing women into key decision-making and that is the reason why President John Dramani Mahama got a lot of applause for his ceiling-breaking move in 2020, nominating Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang as his Running Mate.
The 2021 population estimates have also confirmed that the female population of Ghana outnumber the male.
50.7 % of Ghanaians are female. How can women who form the majority of our nation’s population be so marginalized?
This is mockery from our “Gender Champion.”
